Immerse yourself. Others are already

Many companies are trying to get closer to their consumers, customers, shoppers, fans, whatever they want to call them – people that interact with their product or service. Whilst their intentions are good, often their actions aren’t. In this case words are speaking louder than actions. It’s not that they don’t realise the value of this, they do, it’s simply the people that organise it, struggle to engage the very people that should be understanding their customer.

Any person responsible for branding / selling / marketing must know how their consumer uses their product or service in the natural environment. They must witness it, they must experience it, they must get immersed in it.

Yet many people don’t have the time. With all the presumed pressures of daily work life, sales forecasts, distribution problems, social media demands, people don’t want to dedicate a morning or afternoon to go to a consumers house and spend that time with them. With the additional factor of people tidying their house prior to arrival, wearing different clothes, acting differently – the whole process is both flawed and boring for those who participate. Plus it’s just one person. In all honestly, who knows what that person is going to be like? Do you really want to spend the whole afternoon with them?That then provides negative feeling towards the whole process, the word spreads internally, and the immersion is killed.

What people need is easily digestible chunks of consumers using their products which can be viewed by many, not by one. Perhaps even being as bold as to say that the board could also watch this and learn a thing or two about consumers they probably know less than they should about. This exposure has to be a good thing, has to be something that will help people understand how their products are actually used, stored, consumed & talked about.

That’s where Watch Me Think has come in. We’re working with many multinationals in the UK and Australia who want to do just this. Typically every quarter we’re providing around 10-15 videos (30s – 3mins in length) of their consumers (made by those consumers on their smartphones) of their product being used in its natural environment. These videos are then being used for immersion sessions of approx 30 mins in length for huge groups across these businesses (normally by brand). Immersion sessions that no one minds attending as they’re on site and short.

The learnings from these are immense, they don’t have to spend anytime off site and they gather real feedback that feeds conversations and meetings over the coming quarter. Plus, the diversity of people watching these is fantastic – it’s surprising how many CEOs are making the time to watch these and who are feeling a lot better about understanding a little more about their consumer.